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Change Makers Podcast Episode 8: Non-Binary People's Day On this episode of the Change Makers podcast we are celebrating International Non-Binary People’s Day with a discussion between two gender diverse legal professionals and Amila Perera, a Legal Editor at Thomson Reuters. This conversation will give you the opportunity to understand non-binary identities, particularly within the workplace and the legal profession. International Non-Binary People’s Day is celebrated on 14 July each year. The date was chosen because 14 July is the midpoint between International Women’s Day and International Men’s Day. Amila sat down in Sydney with Frankie Sullivan, a NSW Legal Aid lawyer, and Joseph Black, a Juris Doctor Student at the University of Sydney, to discuss their experiences of being non-binary members of the legal profession.  Frankie prefers to be referred to using singular ‘they’ pronouns, while Joseph prefers either ‘she’, ‘he’ or ‘they’ pronouns.  Podcast show notes In conversation, Frankie and Joseph discussed the impact of the case Norrie v Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, which was a case that allowed for Norrie mAy Welby to have their sex registration marked as ‘non-specific’. As Frankie noted, ‘it's a pretty big deal to have the highest court in this country endorsing [the idea that] gender is something that's beyond the binary’. However, although this case represented a significant step in legal recognition of non-binary identities, there is still a long way to go in really recognising sex and gender as two distinct parts of a person’s identity. As Frankie explained: “To have that non-specific marker on your identity documents, you still need to have some sort of affirmation surgery, which is, again, quite restrictive and quite limiting for various reasons. So even though it's recognised, I think it's hard to actually get that lawful status. You need to … check a whole bunch of boxes, at least in New South Wales in order to be entitled to that nonspecific gender marker.” The conversation highlighted how important it is for law and policy recognition of gender diversity to be reflected in day to day experiences. In discussing the kinds of things that help them to feel comfortable with their gender identity in professional spaces, both Frankie and Joseph emphasised the value of others being receptive and respectful of their gender expression.  Joseph has become more comfortable with expressing their identity in the ways they would like, in part, because they have been able to situate themself within a supportive community that clearly signals inclusivity. “Incorporating these symbols that indicate this is a safe space can help indicate to me that this is a safe environment that's inclusive and work and feel comfortable. I think things like this event celebrating international non binary day could be helpful and appreciated.” For Frankie, navigating court appearances as a young lawyer has meant that they announce themself in court using the title ‘Mx’, rather than ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’. Frankie spoke about being pleasantly surprised by how easily their preferred title was adopted by fellow lawyers and judges. “[It’s] obviously a little bit tricky, and it's been a bit awkward at times. But there's just been a real willingness from the people I work with and within the courts to try and … that’s been a really positive thing.” Enjoyed the insights from today’s podcast? Add Episode 7: Active Allyship to your playlist, which explores bringing your whole self to work and supporting your colleagues and peers in the legal profession.  

Change Makers Podcast Episode 7: Active AllyshipJune marks the month of pride, honouring the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a significant event which paved the way for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. To help celebrate Pride Month 2020, Thomson Reuters has dropped episode seven of the Change Makers Podcast, ‘Active Allyship’. For a conversation on being an active ally in the workplace and encouraging other firms to follow suit, there was one person our podcast host could not look past. Catherine Roberts, Strategic Global Client Director, Thomson Reuters Asia and Emerging Markets, was pleased to invite an advocate of active allyship and colleague, Rob Head, Hong Kong-based Director of Proposition Core Law, Thomson Reuters, Asia & Emerging Markets to speak on the program.Rob is a vocal supporter of D&I (diversity and inclusion) initiatives in the Asia region and has helped drive Thomson Reuters’ workplace equality index up during his time at the company. Not only does Rob regularly speak on panels to raise awareness for the LGBT+ community, he is the proud recipient of numerous industry awards. Last year, Rob was granted the 2019 Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Champion Award and a 2019 OUTstanding LGBT+ Future Leader listing. Outside of this, Rob has also hosted Stonewall’s Global Workplace Briefings Launch, authored the ‘Road to Gold’ Strategy driving achievement of Gold in Hong Kong’s LGBT+ Inclusion Index and continues to champion Hong Kong’s Gay & Lesbian Attorney’s Network, showcasing his drive to increase discourse and create change for LGBT+ people in Hong Kong and beyond. Rob doesn’t limit his allyship to those in LGBT+ communities, but instead looks to foster inclusivity of all individuals. For example:“I often reference gender equality at the same time [as LGBT+ matters], because I think it's very important whenever you're trying to push one agenda in this space to make sure that people realise it's not at the expense of others, but it's to support all people at the same time.”Continue reading for a recap of the episode, which looks at converting passive support into active allyship, particularly in the context of the Asia Pacific region’s legal profession. Podcast show notesBringing your ‘whole self’ to workTo begin, Catherine asked Rob why D&I is important to him and the reason behind his unwavering support for it. Rob’s answer was holistic. For him, D&I functions to enable all people from everywhere, across Thomson Reuters as an organisation and its client base. This is regardless of your culture, nationality, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or your physical ability. “It’s about working in an organisation which has a culture that fosters an ability for everybody to bring their whole self to work, and something that fosters creativity through enabling people with different talents, different ideas, and different capabilities to bring everything that they have to the table,” added Rob. But bringing your ‘whole self’ to work is easier said than done. As Rob explains, there are things that get in the way for LGBT+ individuals, that hinder their ability to feel comfortable in the workplace. “One thing that people often forget, is that as an LGBT+ person, you don't just come out once, you actually come out to every person you meet for the first time. And you have to judge whether that's a safe space, a safe individual to do that with. So one of the things I would always encourage people to think about when they're talking to people that they're meeting for the first time, whether that's in a sales conversation, whether that's advising your client, whether that's being the client talking to a lawyer, is that you don't know what their background is, you don't know whether they're straight, whether they're gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual,” said Rob. He urged listeners in the podcast to consider every person they meet as a blank slate. By this, Rob advised that you must enter into new conversations with an open mind, use inclusive language and don’t ever assume. Converting passive support into ‘active allyship’ There’s a difference between supporting your colleagues behind the scenes, by being, what some may call ‘tolerant’ of the LGBT+ community, to ‘active allyship’. For Rob, the concept of tolerance has a connotation of tolerating something you do not approve of, which can hinder D&I progress. Instead, there are a number of steps employees can take to accept their industry peers for who they are and foster a safe workplace. As Rob explained:“Some organisations are doing a really good job at implementing subtle but very positive signposting in the office. For example, some employees may have ally stickers on the back of their laptop or a pride flag on their desk. There are also events that happen where people will wear pink for ‘Pink Friday’ (which is an initiative that a friend of mine, Michael Lam, set up at Goldman Sachs during Pride Month 2019), to really spread the word across the industry in banking, finance and law, that they're welcoming cultures,’ he said.  Such signposts or small acts, Rob added, can make all the difference and prompt individuals to feel welcome and safe in their working environment. Catherine agreed and chimed in with her personal experience on giving voice to those who may feel less inclined to do so.“One leader I've worked with has always been very careful in meetings to make sure that everyone has a voice in the meeting. I think something like that as well can be really helpful just to show that you are wanting to listen to all the voices, and you're giving everyone an opportunity to speak,” she said. Acute ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ in Hong KongLooking at Rob’s personal achievements in the D&I space, Catherine asked about areas he was particularly proud of. To this, Rob answered that while earning award titles are indeed something to be proud of, there’s also a human element to what he has achieved through being an active ally. There was one poignant moment for Rob, after a ‘pink dot’ event in Hong Kong, where a colleague reached out to say how much his participation in the event meant to him. Because it can be hard for people to see the benefits of supporting D&I through events like this, such feedback was welcomed. Most would have heard of the analogy, ‘six degrees of separation’. To describe the cultural environment in markets like Hong Kong and Singapore, Rob laid out a scenario for our podcast listeners using this concept, arguing it is more acute that some may realise. “Imagine you are an LGBT+ individual working in a company or law firm in Hong Kong. You are not ‘out’ to your parents at home, but you want to be comfortable at work and be yourself and be fully authentic about who you are. You don't know what to do, because in Hong Kong, it actually feels like there are two degrees of separation. If somebody at work knows somebody who knows your parents, it doesn't matter whether or not you foster the best culture in the organisation that is possible.”"It's not necessary to see a physical result of somebody coming out. Do not measure success on the number of out people at work, measure it on the culture, measure it on your staff retention rates, measure it on how happy people are in the office, because those people may or may not feel comfortable to demonstrate publicly. That’s not a measure of how good you're doing. The measure is whether people are staying with you at work ,whether people are enjoying themselves."“I would say one of the things that I would call one of my biggest successes is making sure that people in the organisation understand that kind of concept, and seeing their staff retention rates and seeing people do well at work regardless of their backgrounds,” said Rob.Next frontier for D&I progressionLooking to the future of LGBT+ inclusivity in the workplace, Rob considers the small law space as an area for which conditions can be improved further.“I think the next battleground for talent, if you will, is going to be taking LGBT+ inclusion to the smaller law firms and the smaller corporates who are trying to win talent. At the moment, there may be an acknowledgement of gender equality in some of these organisations, but not necessarily I would say success everywhere,” explained Rob.Rob added that LGBT+ inclusion is not routinely an operational reality, which gives organisations like Thomson Reuters and large law firms to help educate leaders on the benefits of diversity and inclusion to attract top talent.If you enjoyed this Change Makers Podcast episode, look no further than episode three, where Shelley Mulhern and Tim Pollard, both from Thomson Reuters, interviewed Rachael Wallbank, an *LGBTIQ and gender identity advocate in the legal profession. *The terminology used here in this episode was as requested by the program’s guest. 

It is International Womens Day on 8 March 2020, a day in which the legal profession will be reflecting on how far away the industry is from achieving gender equality. To reach such a goal, law firms and organisations may be prompted to discuss pay equity, gender quotas, to the bullying and harassment of women that has been identified as an industry-specific problem. For episode six of the Thomson Reuters Change Makers Podcast, we invited Anthea McIntyre, owner and Director of McIntyre Legal to join us in the studio. We consider Anthea as a Change Maker and advocate for women in the law, because in addition to running a successful boutique law firm specialising in all areas of wills and estates, she is known for founding Lawyer Mums Australia, the Facebook forum for Australian lawyer mothers. Boasting 2,762 members and counting, the group offers a safe space for participants to connect with each other about their day-to-day experiences in the profession and as mothers. Anthea’s group is supported by Sharna Clemmett, a Sydney-based Barrister who is administering the Facebook group. Anthea McIntyre has carved out a significant online community that is well-loved by those who are part of it, including our very own Head of Commercial and In-House at Practical Law, Tyrilly Csillag. Tyrilly counts herself as a women lawyer who has reaped the benefits of Lawyer Mums Australia and joined Catherine Roberts, our regular host of the Change Makers Podcast on the program.Lawyer Mums Australia was born out of Anthea's experience as a first time Mum and feeling isolated and lonely on 14 July, 2014. At this point in her life, she had a one-year-old and two-year-old and, yet while she loved being a mother, Anthea was missing the mental stimulation of being a corporate lawyer. She was yearning to get back into the legal workforce but couldn’t bring herself to put her little ones into daycare five days a week, because the ‘mother guilt’ was all too real. Anthea plugged ‘lawyer mums’ into Google and the search results were dire. An online formal support group for lawyer mums to connect with each other over their careers simply didn’t exist. So during the lunchtime hour that her babies were sleeping, she set up Lawyer Mums Australia on Facebook and invited three friends. The community grew to 200 in a week and the rest, as they say, is history. “We are a mixture of solicitors, Barristers, in-house counsel, legal consultants, we have Senior Counsel like Jane Needham who was recently on this program...women who are on maternity leave and just want to still feel connected to the legal community. And Gee, I wish I had access to a group like this when I was on maternity leave and feeling really isolated. That is how this group was created,” said Anthea. Tyrilly’s experience of the Facebook group is overly positive, where she says on the podcast that it is a safe space. Part of that feeling of safety comes from the membership vetting process. You have to hold a current practising certificate to be accepted into the forum. “The main thing that I really love about the group is that it helps you bring together that conflict in identity, that you have sometimes have when you're at home with a young child. So the conflict between being an at-home Mum and being a successful lawyer in the office.”Why are women lawyers leaving the profession?During the Change Makers Podcast, Catherine asked Anthea what some of the common challenges are for women lawyers, that she is seeing crop up time and again in the Facebook forum. Furthermore, Catherine questions what is prompting women to opt out of the legal profession. “I think it's mother guilt. I think it's not being there for the ‘Easter Hat Parade’. I think it's not being there to create the beautiful outfit for Book Week and feeling constantly torn between a child who needs you in their childhood...And I think women you know, they naturally they don't want to miss out, they want to be wonderful mothers and lawyers, and we’re naturally overachievers we want everything,” replied Anthea. “We want to be the mother of a child with the best Easter hat. We also want to be running High Court litigation, we want to be doing everything and you just can't have it all. And this idea of, you know, work-life balance is a really difficult, really difficult thing to achieve. And I think that that's why many women do eventually leave the profession.”Shift in workplace flexibility for lawyer parentsAnthea has noticed a real shift in the last three years that is making it easier for lawyer mothers to get back into the profession. “There are new types of law firms that are opening up. No longer is it just the traditional law firm of starting as a lawyer, making your way through as a senior associate and becoming a Partner. “I'm over 40 so people who are more senior practitioners can become legal consultants at other law firms. They can in fact, become independent contractors and run their own law firms within large law firms. I think a lot of members in our group are solo practitioners largely because a lot of women find that running their own business and setting their own work hours to be the best way of balancing being a mother and having a fulfilling career.”Popular topics in the Lawyer Mums Australia forumWhile posts are moderated and anonymous outside the group, Anthea was able to provide some high level topics that crop up regularly. They include:Job interview tips from what to wear with how best to answer questionsLaw firm salary bands and billable hour pricing discussions between lawyer mothers who suspect they are being underpaid or undercharging for their legal services (of course specific details are not disclosed publicly, but would happen in a more confidential manner with private messaging)Practical guidance on dealing with clients who are domestic violence victims/survivorsPoor workplace behaviour and how to handle it as a victim or bystanderFlexible working discussions where women lawyers swap stories Nanny referrals for women who’ve woken up with sick child yet have no family to call upon for babysittingPolitical issues such as the cost of childcare that some argue may be pushing women out of the legal professionFashion advice on the best maternity clothing brands and outfitsWhen it comes to the future of Lawyer Mums Australia, Anthea would like to keep the forum away from commercial advertising. “I would like it to remain purely about supporting each other, but in a genuine way. I would like women to just continue to prop each other up. There are at least 20 posts a day where someone will say ‘Oh, can you recommend a family lawyer or a wills and estates lawyer or criminal lawyer? And then, you know, we're all commenting with women who we know who are fabulous in those areas of the law. That’s what I love to just see, that we're just all supporting each other in our careers and in our journeys,” Anthea concluded. Missed our last episode of the Change Makers Podcast? Head over to Women at the Bar for Jane Needham SC and Kate Eastman SC’s take on the next generation of fierce barristers challenging the status quo.

Jane Needham SC and Kate Eastman SC join Catherine Roberts, Change Makers Podcast Host and Global Strategic Client Director at Thomson Reuters Legal, Asia and Emerging Markets, for episode five, A Push for Gender Equality at the Bar. The program focuses on the conditions experienced among women at the Bar and how the legal profession can do better.Catherine interviews Kate and Jane on a range of topics, from flexibility in the workplace and childcare considerations for Barrister parents - a concept that Jane copped flack for introducing to chambers as the former President of the New South Wales Bar Association some years ago - to bullying and harassment and the future generation of barristers. Both successful Barristers have earned their stripes in the profession with decades of experience and legal accolades tied to their names. Jane was previously President of the NSW Bar Association and her legal expertise has a focus on Equity and Succession Law and has appeared in significant Inquiries and Inquests. They include the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.Kate’s areas of practice are Employment, Discrimination, and Human Rights. She has been recognised throughout her career with awards including the Women Lawyers’ Association “Change Champion of the Year Award”. Both Barristers have been actively vocal on gender equality and Equitable Briefing and pushed for change on various fronts. When Jane Needham SC became a Barrister some four decades ago, her gender cut a lonely figure at the Bar. Being the only woman in the room was her day to day experience in the profession - whether it was courtroom conference or her legal clients - her colleagues were mostly all men. While the numbers are slightly better than they used to be, the award winning Barrister, who is renowned for striving to make the Bar a better place to work, believes the Bar ought to start looking at appointing more female practitioners into leadership roles rather than just making up gender diverse numbers.“I do think that women in leadership is a real challenge for women at the Bar, because there are so few female silks (we have around ten percent of silks who are women). There aren't that many role models, because there just aren't many of us, with one or two [male] appointments and we go under the ten percent again,” she says on the Change Makers Podcast.For a young woman whose career ambition is to become a sole practitioner or Barrister, it can be difficult to find a role model. To this, Jane encourages women lawyers to look to the historical achievements of those in the profession who have pushed for progress historically.“It's really important to look to the people who've done the work, who've done the hard yards and really fought against much more apparent barriers than we have. I'm thinking of people like the late Jane Matthews [and] Ruth McColl, who has recently retired. They’re leaders who've really made a difference and who've put themselves out there and have achieved, and I think we need to look at that as well as develop the younger women who are coming through.”Kate Eastman SC agrees with Jane, citing that there's so few women as Senior Counsel even today.“We might make up 10% of all Senior Counsel, but we're actually 1.2% of the entire Bar,” she says. On becoming more vocalUnlike her colleague Jane, Kate’s experience of entering the profession did not involve being the only woman in the room. However, over time she realised how far the profession needed to adapt for Barristers with dependents.“When I first came to the Bar, I didn't have children and I wasn't married. So I was literally footloose and fancy free. All I had to really be worried about was just getting myself organised. I've had to evolve both in terms of a wife, as a mother, as a practitioner, as a leader, to try to fit more in, with less time. And that's a real challenge,” adds Kate.“Part of it is to have that flexibility and to have that resilience and to recognise the limitations in yourself so that you can...handle all of the responsibilities that you have.”Catherine asked Kate and Jane how vocal they have become over the years on pushing for equality for women in the legal profession, further querying whether they have become more vocal on the issue over time.To this, Jane pointed out the burden of responsibility she felt as the the third female President of the Bar Association, but the first with children. With 18 months in that role, she did not waste time.“I knew that I had to use that 18 months to make a difference because I would have, once I left, I would need to leave whatever I’d achieved in the hands of all the men who were going to roll out after me. And that's not a slam on the guys themselves. It's just a fact that people have different priorities and my priorities were flexible working, equitable briefing, just making the bar a better place to work,” explains Jane.Kate seems to think she has always been vocal about fairness and equality for women in the workplace, but that perhaps her voice is listened to more with her increased seniority.“I think if you asked other people, including my family and my friends at university, they would say I've always been vocal about these issues. It may the difference may be that there's more people who listen to me now or have to listen to me than when I was younger,” she replies.Kate reflects fondly on her time working as a research assistant at the Human Rights Commission, with the then Human Rights Commissioner Quentin Bryce. Her job was to work on a sexual harassment campaign with a focus on young women, often working in blue collar work or retail, who experienced sexual harassment.“There was this moment where [I felt] I cannot believe this is happening. It sort of clicked to me that this is why I wanted to be a lawyer...And if I was going to take on human rights work, then I had to be prepared to be vocal about it.”“I feel a responsibility as a leader that if I see issues around gender equality issues, in our own profession as lawyers, and we can't fix that or act in accordance with the law, then how can we expect anybody else in the community to do so?”- Kate Eastman SCThe “fierce” generation of women BarristersBoth Barristers see the future for women in the legal profession optimistically. While the environment at the Bar may have a bit of catching up to do compared to the rest of the legal profession, women lawyers, it seems, are finally being listened to.“I hope that the skills that they have as young women will carry forward into the profession where they won't sit back and tolerate poor working conditions, disrespect discourtesy, that they will call these things out in a way that they are better equipped to do than perhaps we were. My generation felt that we had to prove ourselves to be accepted. Yet these young women just say we're here, we should be accepted and we’re fierce,” says Kate.Jane argues there is so much to be done, though change for the better seems like the inevitable.“We're working in a system which was designed by men for men hundreds of years ago. And the concept of flexible work around family responsibilities is probably something that's developed in the last couple of decades. We really need to work out whether the way in which the courts work is fit for purpose in today's society,” Jane adds.Play Change Makers Podcast Episode 5: A Push for Gender Equality at the Bar to hear the full conversation between the inspiring women Barristers looking to make the Bar a better place to work.Did you know, Catherine interviewed another Barrister at the start of the series, Larissa Andelman, Barrister and President of the New South Wales Women Lawyers Association? Enjoy another powerful conversation in Change Makers Podcast Episode 1: Elevating Gender Diversity in Legal Leadership. For an email every time a new episode comes out, be sure to subscribe to the Change Makers Podcast.This article was originally published on Legal Insight.

Change Makers is a global Thomson Reuters initiative that brings together industry leaders committed to improving gender equality and diversity in the legal profession. Catherine Roberts, Strategic Global Client Director at Thomson Reuters Legal in Asia and Emerging Markets, has spoken with a range of compelling thought leaders about the advancement of women in the legal profession.In this episode, Catherine welcomes the first male champion of change to take part in the program, Andrew Stewart, a Partner at Baker McKenzie.Andrew is a vocal supporter of gender equality. He demonstrates this commitment through actively participating in Baker McKenzie’s “Male Agents of Change” program, which he helped launch in 2016. Change Makers Podcast 4: Male Agents of Change highlights how global law firms, seen in Baker McKenzie’s Male Agents of Change program, are taking steps to ensure progress is made for women in the legal profession. In 2019, Baker McKenzie became the first global law firm to set 40:40:20* gender targets, applying to Partners, senior business professionals, firm committee leadership and candidate pools for recruitment. Andrew is in full support of the move, which aims to get there by July 2025. It is his view that targets are really important, “because not having them hasn’t worked yet”. As the podcast host, Catherine has been curious to hear how Andrew positions the gender equality agenda among his peers. She asks Andrew why it is so important for men to prioritise progress in the profession.“I think number one, is that – until we don’t need to have these podcasts, until we don’t need to talk about gender equality – really, this is an issue that men have to commit to working on,” responds Andrew.Another topic the interview explores is the uncertainty felt among some in the profession when it comes to mentoring women in the #metoo era. Catherine asks Andrew for his take on this, to which he responds by saying that he struggles to understand those who say the boundaries are blurred.“It’s an odd world in which we live, that women who have been discriminated against are going to then be further discriminated against because senior members of the profession don’t feel comfortable in doing what they absolutely must, which is mentor women.“But at a fundamental level, I just don’t believe that people can be confused by it. I think that particularly in the legal profession, for someone to claim that they don’t really understand where the boundary is…I think it is pretty clear that [poor] behaviour is obviously unwanted. If someone says no, or they complain, if you can’t trust yourself, through mentoring someone and having coffees with them, to coach them…There’s something really fundamentally wrong with the way you’re approaching it.”RELATED: Change Makers Podcast Episode 2: Gender Diversity from the Perspectives of In-House LawyersConcerns about unconscious bias are often raised in Change Makers Podcasts. Adding to the wider discussion on the issue, Andrew says that he does not hesitate to call out unconscious bias when he sees it, citing “genderised” language such as the “assertive man versus the aggressive woman” as a classic example.Did you hear from successful legal leaders in the profession, Larissa Andelman and Jackie Rhodes, at the start of the season? Enjoy another powerful conversation on the need for mentorships in Change Makers Podcast Episode 1: Elevating Gender Diversity in Legal Leadership. For an email every time a new episode comes out, be sure to subscribe to the Change Makers Podcast.*40% women, 40% men and 20% flexible, which refers to women, men or non-binary persons.This blog post was originally published on Legal Insight.

In this special episode of the Change Makers Podcast, LGBTIQ Advocacy in the Legal Profession, the Co-Chairs of Thomson Reuters Pride at Work delve into transgender diversity and the common law, alongside the importance of wellness among young, LGBTIQ lawyers. Featured are guest hosts Shelley Mulhern, Head of Client Management, and Tim Pollard, Head of Primary Law at Thomson Reuters Legal, Asia and Emerging Markets.Together they spoke with Rachael Wallbank, capturing her inspiring story in the lead up to Wear it Purple Day, a day fostering supportive, safe, empowering and inclusive environments for young people.Rachael is an Accredited Specialist in family law and principal of Wallbanks, a firm specialising in family law and succession law in New South Wales, Australia. Her story is nothing short of remarkable, both professionally and personally. Between 1999 and 2003, Rachael acted for the successful applicant in a case that made legal history for Transgender people in Australia. RELATED: Thomson Reuters Pride Customer [Video]In this particular case, Rachael’s client was a man, originally born female bodied, who was seeking the right to be legally married as a man to his female partner. This had personal significance for Rachael, as in the 1990s she affirmed her female sex. Rachael’s personal experiences and unique perspective enabled her to bring a special quality to her advocacy for her clients in this case. The result of the case was a landmark decision with international effect and is one of her career highlights.“It’s one of those examples that you can be involved in legal practice, and suddenly find that what you’re doing has a great deal of importance, to a whole lot of people that really need help. And I think that’s why a lot of us study the law…and enter the legal profession. I was just very fortunate that case came my way”– Rachael Wallbank speaking on the Change Makers PodcastWith research indicating that Transgender people can experience higher levels of stress, mental illness and depression, Rachael offers Tim and Shelley ideas on what she believes would make a difference to improve these outcomes. Thomson Reuters Legal would like to thank Rachael for sharing her story on the Change Makers Podcast.This blog was originally published on Legal Insight.

Change Makers is a global Thomson Reuters initiative that brings together industry leaders committed to improving diversity in the legal profession. Hosting this podcast series is Catherine Roberts, a Strategic Global Client Director with Thomson Reuters Legal.In Gender Diversity From the Perspectives of In-House Lawyers, the second episode in the series, Catherine digs deep on the experiences and challenges women face working as legal counsel in commercial settings. Topics explored in this episode include the transition from law firm culture to that of in-house, the culture of “presenteeism” and how this can hinder performance and job satisfaction, as well as the ability for in-house counsel to choose firms which support gender diversity and inclusion. Catherine also raises concerns about the recent International Bar Association report on bullying and harassment in the legal profession and asks how the profession can improve legal workplaces to ensure it retains women looking to further their careers.Joining the program is Janine Cane, Chief Counsel at Thomson Reuters Legal in Asia and Emerging Markets. Janine has practised law across three continents over a period of 25 years. She initially qualified and practised law in South Africa prior to moving to the UK where she spent most of her time at Clifford Chance, specialising in Intellectual Property. She joined Thomson Reuters in 2006 as Legal Counsel for ANZ and now heads up the Thomson Reuters’ legal function for a region encompassing Asia Pacific, Middle East, Russia and Africa.Offering another unique in-house perspective provided is this episode is from Tyrilly Csillag, Head of In-house at Practical Law Australia. Tyrilly joined Practical Law as a Senior Writer in 2017 from the in-house team at IBM where she had a focus on technology contracting, cyber security and data protection laws, and managed lawyers practicing in Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific legal teams. She has over decade of commercial experience working within in-house legal teams for multinational, national corporate and also government entities and has also worked as a solicitor in private practice – twice.Tune in to the second episode of the Change Makers Podcast series, Gender Diversity From the Perspectives of In-House Lawyers to enjoy the thought-provoking conversation!This blog post was originally published on Legal Insight.

Change Makers is a global Thomson Reuters initiative that brings together industry leaders committed to improving diversity in the legal profession. And we want your commitment too! Hosting this podcast series is Catherine Roberts, a Global Strategic Client Director with Thomson Reuters Legal.In this podcast episode, Elevating Gender Diversity in Legal Leadership, Catherine tackles the issue of improving gender diversity in the leadership ranks of the law. She interviews two successful female Change Makers who are legal leaders and join the podcast to bring their perspectives on women lawyers rising up through the leadership ranks. Our first guest is Larissa Andelman, President of the New South Wales Women Lawyers Association and a practising barrister. Larissa was called to the NSW Bar in 2006 and has expertise in all aspects of industrial and employment law, and she is also a contributing author to Thomson Reuters’ legal services, including Practical Law. Larissa is actively involved in a number of initiatives promoting the participation of women in employment – and in the law more specifically.And also joining the program is Jackie Rhodes, Thomson Reuters’ Head of Legal Professionals in Asia & Emerging Markets.Jackie obtained her law degree and MBA in the UK and practised as a lawyer early in her career. Her career has spanned many global geographies including most as Managing Director for the TR business for Australia and NZ for the past 8 years. Jackie’s current regional role has her now based in Singapore, with a remit that encompasses leading the legal business across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Russia and Africa.RELATED: How to Improve Gender Diversity in Law FirmsJackie has been with the company since 1995, and during that time has driven major cultural and organisational transformation across our business. Jackie is an Executive Sponsor of the Thomson Reuters Women@Work group and has previously had the sometimes challenging role of being Catherine’s own career mentor!Did you know, that there are more Change Makers Podcast episodes in this series? Get your fix from LBGTIQ Advocacy in the Legal Profession or Gender Diversity from the Perspectives of In-House Lawyers.This blog post has also published on Legal Insight.